Bloke faked Facebook ownership documents

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says emails and a signed document which are the basis of a bloke's lawsuit claiming part ownership of the social networking phenomenon have been faked. According to court documents, Zuckerberg want expedited access to the original materials, copies of which were filed with Paul Ceglia's lawsuit, and to examine Ceglia's computers and electronic media.

The stakes are high in the case. If the court accepts his demands Ceglia would be in line to receive over $6 billion from Zuckerberg's fortune. If it does not, then Ceglia could end up in jail for forgery.

Zuckerberg said that the contract is a cut-and-paste job, the emails are complete fabrications and this entire lawsuit is a fraud. Zuckerberg has now declared under oath that he did not sign the contract attached to Ceglia's complaint and that he did not write or receive any of the purported emails.

Ceglia's lawsui relies largely on a two-page "work for hire" contracts bearing the names of both. Ceglia, of Wellsville in Allegany County, says he and Zuckerberg signed the contract after Zuckerberg, then a Harvard University student, responded to his Craigslist help-wanted ad for work on a street-mapping database he was creating.

Ceglia paid Zuckerberg $1000 to work on the project and gave him another $1000 after Zuckerberg told him about his Facebook plans. This was on the condition Ceglia would get half of the cash it took off.